How Long Is a COI Good For? Certificate of Insurance Validity

Last updated July 2026.

A COI is good for as long as the policy behind it, which for most commercial policies is one year. The certificate has no expiration of its own. It mirrors the policy term printed on it, so it stops being proof of anything the moment that policy renews, lapses or is cancelled.

Because most general liability, auto and workers compensation policies are written for twelve-month terms, the practical answer is that a certificate is usually good for up to a year, and often less if the policy was issued mid-term or cancelled early. The certificate on file simply reflects the policy term, so when that policy turns over, the document you collected is out of date and you need a fresh one.

That one-year rule of thumb is where a lot of compliance gaps start. The certificate you collected when you onboarded a vendor looks fine in a folder for months, then quietly goes stale on a date nobody is watching. This guide explains how long a COI actually stays valid, the difference between an expired certificate and an expired policy, when to ask for a renewal, and how teams keep a current certificate on file for every vendor without watching each date by hand.

How long is a certificate of insurance valid?

A certificate of insurance is valid for the policy period shown on it, normally one year, matching the effective and expiration dates of the underlying policy. The ACORD 25 certificate of liability insurance lists those dates for each coverage line, and the certificate is only proof of coverage through the latest of those expiration dates. After that, the document tells you nothing about whether the vendor is still insured. A few policies run shorter terms, such as a six-month auto policy or a project-specific policy that ends when the job does, in which case the certificate is valid for that shorter window.

One important point: the certificate is a snapshot from the day it was issued. It does not update itself when the policy renews, when a limit changes, or when the policy is cancelled. So even inside the stated period, a certificate is only reliable evidence as of its issue date, which is why coverage should be re-verified at renewal rather than assumed to roll over.

How long is a COI good for?

A COI is good for the length of the policy period printed on it, which for most commercial general liability, auto and workers compensation policies is twelve months. Once that expiration date passes, the certificate is no longer proof of anything and you need a fresh one from the vendor or their agent.

How long is a COI valid for?

A COI is valid only while the underlying policy is in force. That is normally one year, but it can be shorter: a policy issued mid-term expires on the original term date, and a policy cancelled early for nonpayment ends coverage immediately even though the certificate still shows a future date. Validity follows the policy, not the paper.

Why do most certificates of insurance expire after one year?

Most certificates expire after one year because most commercial insurance policies are written for a one-year term and renewed annually. The certificate inherits the policy dates, so when general liability, commercial auto, umbrella and workers compensation all renew on the same annual cycle, the certificate expires with them. When the vendor renews, their agent issues a new certificate with the new dates, and that is the document you need on file. If you are holding a certificate that is more than a year old, the policy behind it has almost certainly renewed at least once, and the version you have no longer reflects current coverage.

What is the difference between an expired certificate and an expired policy?

An expired certificate means the document on file has passed its stated expiration date, even though the underlying policy may have renewed and coverage may still be in force. An expired policy means the actual insurance contract is no longer active. The two are not the same. A vendor can have fully current coverage while you hold an expired certificate simply because nobody requested the renewal version. The reverse is also possible: a certificate can show a future date while the policy was cancelled mid-term, so the paper looks current but the coverage is gone.

This is why tracking only the date printed on the certificate is not enough. You want to know both that the certificate on file is current and that the policy behind it is still in force, which means re-requesting a certificate at renewal and watching for any mid-term cancellation in between.

When should I request a renewal certificate of insurance?

Request a renewal certificate about 60 days before the current one expires, then follow up at 30 and 15 days if the vendor has not sent it. If you are setting up that outreach for the first time, our guide on how to request a COI from a vendor covers the exact ask. Asking early gives the vendor and their insurance agent time to issue the new certificate before the old coverage period ends, so you are never left with an expired COI while the vendor is still working for you. Sending one reminder the week of expiration almost guarantees a gap, because the vendor has to contact their agent, the agent has to issue the certificate, and that takes time you do not have if you wait until the last minute.

A simple cadence works well: a first request at 60 days, a reminder at 30 days, and a final reminder at 15 days, with the vendor flagged as non-compliant if no current certificate arrives before the expiration date. Setting that cadence up once, per vendor, is exactly the kind of repetitive scheduling that software handles far better than a person trying to remember dozens of renewal dates.

What happens if a vendor's certificate of insurance expires?

If a vendor's certificate expires, you lose your proof that the vendor carries the coverage your contract requires. If a loss happens while the certificate is lapsed, you may have no current certificate to point to, and if the policy itself actually lapsed, you could be left holding a claim you assumed the vendor's insurer would cover. Even when the vendor's coverage is genuinely still active, an expired certificate is a documentation failure that an auditor, your own insurer, or opposing counsel after an incident will hold against you. The safe position is to keep a current certificate on file for every active vendor at all times, which means chasing the renewal before the old one expires rather than after. We walk through the liability, the audit exposure and the exact steps to take in what happens when a vendor's insurance expires.

How long should you keep certificates of insurance on file?

Keep a certificate of insurance for at least as long as a claim tied to that vendor's work could still be brought against you, which in practice means the length of the vendor relationship plus your state's statute of limitations, commonly several years after the work ends. There is no single federal retention rule, so the safe standard is to retain each certificate, and the version in force for every prior policy period, rather than discarding the old one the moment a renewal arrives.

Construction and other completed-operations work is the important exception. A defect or injury claim can surface years after a project is finished, and statutes of repose in some states extend that exposure to a decade or more, so certificates showing completed-operations coverage are often kept far longer than the general rule. Because retention periods turn on your state law, your contracts and your own insurer's requirements, confirm the exact window with your risk manager or legal counsel. The practical takeaway: never treat an expired certificate as garbage. You want a complete, dated history of what every vendor carried while they worked for you, which is easy when each certificate is stored and indexed automatically instead of living in a folder someone eventually cleans out.

When does a COI expire?

A COI expires on the earlier of two dates: the expiration date printed in the policy row it describes, or the day the underlying policy is cancelled. Certificates carry no independent term of their own, so the moment the policy behind a line of coverage ends, that line on the certificate is worthless regardless of what the paper says.

That second case is the one that catches people. A mid-term cancellation leaves you holding a certificate showing valid dates for a policy that no longer exists, and the ACORD 25 notice language generally obliges the insurer to notify only in accordance with policy provisions, which usually means nobody tells the certificate holder at all.

Is the renewal date the same as the expiration date?

No. The expiration date is the last day the policy term shown on the certificate is in force, while the renewal date is when the vendor's insurer issues the next policy term, normally the day after expiration. They line up on a standard annual policy, but they are not the same field: a policy can expire and not be renewed at all, or be cancelled before its expiration date. That gap is exactly why you request the renewal certificate before the current one expires, rather than assuming a new term automatically begins.

How do you keep certificates of insurance current automatically?

The reliable way to keep every certificate current is to track each expiration date and chase each renewal automatically instead of by hand. COI renewal tracking software reads the effective and expiration dates off each certificate, watches those dates for you, sends the vendor automated reminders at 60, 30 and 15 days, surfaces any policy cancelled mid-term, and re-checks the renewal certificate against your requirements when it arrives. Instead of a spreadsheet someone has to read every day, you get a live renewal dashboard that flags only the certificates that need attention.

That matters because renewal tracking is the part of COI compliance most likely to slip. Verifying a certificate once at onboarding is straightforward; doing it again, on time, every year, for every vendor, is where manual processes fail. To see how renewals fit into the wider workflow of collecting, reading and verifying certificates, see our guide to certificate of insurance tracking software, and to learn how to confirm a renewal certificate is genuine before you file it, read how to verify a certificate of insurance.

The renewal cadence at a glance

Where the renewal requirement comes from

The obligation to keep a current certificate on file usually lives in the vendor agreement, which sets the coverages, limits and the requirement to provide renewal certificates. Getting that agreement signed cleanly is the first step, and teams that send vendor contracts for signature with a tool like online document e-signing keep the executed agreement and the insurance requirements together from day one. Once a vendor is onboarded, the same renewal discipline applies to the rest of their paperwork: teams that run vendor purchasing through purchase order management software and digitize the supporting W-9s, licenses and tax forms with AI document data extraction end up with a complete, current vendor file instead of a folder of expired documents.

The short version: a certificate of insurance is valid for the policy period it shows, usually a year, and it goes stale the moment that period ends or the policy is cancelled. The work is not understanding the rule, it is keeping a current certificate on file for every vendor, every year, without missing a date. That is what renewal tracking is for.

If dates still live in a spreadsheet, the practical comparison of that approach against automation is in manual COI tracking vs software.